PROVIDING MULTIPLE DEGREES OF CONTEXT FOR CONTENT CONSUMED ON COMPUTERS AND MEDIA PLAYERS

• US 20090327341A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Fong, Jeffrey C., Andrews, Anton O.
• Granted Patent: US 8,527,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

Multiple degrees of context for media content that is consumable on computing platforms including PCs and personal media players is provided by logically organizing context objects into halos that surround each piece of consumable content. The context objects represent information and experiences that are contextually associated with media content to enable users to easily discover content and experiences that they will find interesting in a rich and personal manner. As a user navigates from a content item to a context object in the halo, the context object itself morphs into content that is then surrounded by a new halo of context objects to which the user may navigate. The organization of media content and information into halos enables an effective contextual paradigm that cuts across strict hierarchical structures to allow the user experience to be much more seamless and free-flowing.

Claims

1. A method for providing content items and related context objects for delivery by a service to a remote device over a network, the method comprising the steps of:

collecting statistics pertaining to a community of users of the service, the statistics including identity of a content item and associated consumption by the community of users;

collecting information that is specific to a user, the information comprising one of social graph of the user, user profile, media content collected on the remote device, or preferences of the user;

logically surrounding a content item with a halo comprising a plurality of context objects using the collected statistics and information, the content item representing an item of entertainment, the context objects being contextually related to the content item and representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the device, the context objects being displayable on a display screen on the remote device; and

delivering the content items and related context objects for transfer to the remote device.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the context object represents at least one of static content, dynamic content, content culled from one or more websites, user contributions or additions, commercial content, content associated with a community, or content associated with a social graph of a user.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the service is an on-line media content delivery service.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the delivering is subject to terms of use between the user and the service, the terms of use supporting a business model comprising one of advertising-supported business model or subscription-based business model.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the device is one of PC, mobile phone, PDA, personal media player, handheld game device, smart phone, ultra-mobile computer, or a device having a combination of functionalities provided therein.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the interactive experience comprises discovery of new content items.

7. A method performed by a personal media player for interacting with content items provided by a remote service, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the content items;

receiving a plurality of context objects that are contextually associated with the content items, the context objects being usable in a halo used for logical organization in which in which a plurality of context objects are populated, each of the context objects representing at least one of media content, information, data, or an interactive experience for a user of the personal media player;

storing the content items on a persistent storage medium disposed in the personal media player; and

pre-fetching additional context objects associated with the stored content items.

8. The method of claim 7 in which the content items and context objects are received via an intermediary device and the content items and context objects are transferred during a synchronization process between the personal media player and the intermediary device, the transferred content objects and context items being selected by the user.

9. The method of claim 7 in which the context objects are contextually associated with an item of entertainment.

10. The method of claim 7 in which the item of entertainment includes media content comprising one of audio or video, the audio being selected from a group consisting essentially of music, audio book, podcast, news, or commentary, the video being selected from the group consisting essentially of television program, music video, video clip, movie, or feature film.

11. The method of claim 7 in which the pre-fetching is performed using a predicative algorithm.

12. The method of claim 7 in which the pre-fetching is performed in accordance with usage statistics collected about the user.

13. The method of claim 7 including a further step of reducing a number of context objects associated with the halo when the personal media player is disconnected from a network connection, the reducing performed using input from the user.

14. A personal media player, comprising:

a display screen configured for rendering text and graphics;

user controls;

a digital media processing system interfacing with the display screen to render a GUI showing one or more content items, the digital media processing system including an interface for receiving content items and context objects from a remote source; and

memory bearing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors in the personal media player i) implement the GUI on the display screen, the GUI arranged for displaying a plurality of context objects that are logically populated within a plurality of halos, each of the halos surrounding a content item to provide contextual meaning to the content item, and ii) enable the user controls to be manipulated by the user to navigate to context objects that are displayable on the display screen, and iii) reducing a number of context objects in the halo to match locally stored content items when the personal media player is disconnected from the remote source.

15. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the digital media processing system is further arranged to enforce DRM restrictions on content items or context objects which are protected.

16. The personal media player of claim 14 further including a synchronization port by which the portable media player may be synchronized with an intermediary device to obtain context objects from a remote source.

17. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the digital media processing system is configured for receiving media content, storing the media content, and rendering portions of the media content on the display screen.

18. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the user controls include a G-pad comprising a touch sensitive surface.

19. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the remote source is a service accessed over a network.

20. The personal media player of claim 14 in which the GUI is further arranged to support a portal for completing a purchase.